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THE ALABAMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
NI O NX aO NI E R Y 

Reprint No. 3 



Was Mobile Bay 
the Bay of Spiritu Santo ? 



BY 



PETER J. HAMILTON 



[From the TRANSACTIONS 1899-1903, Vol. IV] 



MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 
1904 



IV. WAS MOBILE BAY THE BAY OF SPIRITU SANTO? 
By Peter Joseph Hamilton/ Mobile. 

On almost all of the earliest maps, Spanish and French, of the 
Gulf of Mexico, is found a broad indentation of the northern 
shore near its centre. On many it is marked Baia or Rio del 
Spiritu Santo, or some variation or translation of that name. Often 
there are other marks on the Gulf for rivers or bays, but even if no 
others are shown, this one is. Sometimes a river, or double river, 
is given as emptying into the bay, sometimes the reproductions ac- 
cessible cut off the stream, but from almost the first the bay is 
landlocked within the shore line, has the characteristics of a dou- 
ble or split head at the north ond, and its mouth is narrowed at 
the Gulf by a projecting headland from the east. Which of our 
present inlets represents this old landmark, the most prominent of 
the Gulf ports? 

After De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi river in 1541, and 
particularly after LaSalle descended it in 1682, that great stream 
became the principal object of interest to explorers. Its import- 
ance has overshadowed all other rivers and writers have generally 
assumed that this River of the Holy Spirit was identical with the 
Mississippi. This view, however, seems to overlook the fact that 
there was a bay as well as a river to be accounted for. In writing 
Colonial Mobile I corresponded with that eminent cartographer, 
Justin Winsor of Harvard, and he called attention to a suggestive 
monograph on the subject by Walter B. Scaife, in the Johns Hop- 
kins Studies. 

Mr. Scaife claims that the waters in question represent Mobile 
Bay and river. Thomassy, the famous French geologist, of New 
Orleans, who had access at Paris or elsewhere to some maps not 
now known, had already several times in his Geologie Pratique 
de la Louisiane- indicated his conviction that this bay was that of 
Mobile, and Francis Parkman^ not only represents LaSalle as be- 
lieving it but believed it himself. The Narrative and Critical His- 

^ For sketch of Mr. Hamilton, see Trans. Ala. Hist. Society, 1897-98, vol. 
ii, p. 39-40. — Editor. 
" Page 20, e. g. 
^Discovery of the Great West, p. 410. 

6 (73) 



74 Alabama Historical Society. 

tory is not altogether consistent, but at least in the Mississippi 
Basin,^ almost his last book, Justin Winsor reconsiders the gen- 
eral opinion of the Narrative and Critical History, and intimates 
that the bay in question was used almost interchangeably for 
Mississippi Sound and Mobile Bay. On the other hand the Louis- 
iana Historical Society restate the claims of the Mississippi. 

Evidently, therefore, the question is one of importance and in- 
terest, with enough of uncertainty thrown in to give it that 
piquancy which Lessing declares essential to search after truth. 
At the same time it is simply a matter of evidence and can be dis- 
cussed and settled without partisanship. 

Columbus himself always supposed that he had reached the 
Asiatic islands, and he never touched our North American con- 
tinent, although he explored the shores of Brazil. Hayti and then 
Cuba were at first the great objects of Spanish interest, but as their 
explorations progressed they found the mainland of North Amer- 
ica, and it gradually develops on the rare old maps which time 
has spared. In 15 13 Ponce de Leon, in a vain search for the foun- 
tain of youth, led the way from Cuba to the Spanish colonization 
of the Florida he named, and, six years later, Cortez from the 
same island conquered the rich Aztec kingdom, Mexico. This 
fired others to seek on the shores of our Gulf dominions which 
would enrich the discoverers and at the same time spread further 
the sway of His Catholic Majesty. The Mexican Gulf and its 
islands became Spanish, well explored by their navigators, but un- 
fortunately little is even yet known of their voyages despite the 
collections of Munoz, Navarrete, Ternaux and others. Their re- 
f^orts and papers may some day be unearthed from continental 
convents and libraries to enrich history, but for the present we 
have only meagre outlines and few Spanish maps. From them 
we learn at least, however, that Mexico (including also our Texas 
and the Northwest) was called New Spain, and that all east to 
the Atlantic was also claimed for Spain under the name of 
Florida. 

Let us first study the locus in quo and see what the north coast 
of the Gulf aflfords in the way of prominent rivers and harbors. 

*Winsor's Mississippi Basin, p. 76. Cf. Winsor's Narrative and Critical 
History of America, vol. ii, considering the bay as the Mississippi, and 
Ibid, vol. iv, p. 2Ti7, where it is suggested, with an interrogation point, that 
Baye du St. Esprit of Beaujeu was Mobile. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hamilton. 75 

Beginning from the east we have open to the Gulf Apalache Bay, 
then the large Apalachicola river, with sickle-shaped Cape St. 
Bias to its west enclosing St. Joseph's Bay, next Pensacola Bay 
with a double head, Perdido Bay and river, then Mobile Bay, the 
largest of them all, Pascagoula river and bay, Biloxi Bay, Lake 
Borgne, the Mississippi delta, and Sabine river and Pass. Gal- 
veston Bay with Trinity river mark where the Gulf coast turns 
southwest, and from Matagorda it turns south, so continuing past 
the Rio Grande. It is hardly possible to identify the Spanish 
names for all, but may we not ascertain which one of these was 
the Spiritu Santo ? It was on the north coast, and of those eleven 
at least Apalache, Perdido, and Sabine can be eliminated at once. 
And this must be remembered : if it is a question of bay and river, 
the Apalachicola (or Chattahoochee), St. Joseph's, and Biloxi are 
out of the race, and the only way even the Mississippi can be con- 
sidered would be by treating Lake Borgne as one of its outlets. 

EARLIEST MAPS. 

There are a large number of early maps of various nations in 
books and in collections. The tests of their value are age and ac- 
curacy, and, as they are seldom made by the explorers themselves, 
neither test can always be made out. Mr. Winsor wrote me once 
that often old maps confused him and made him more uncertain, 
and Humboldt's remark is certainly correct that in early explora- 
tions distances will be incorrect, but directions approximately true. 
Almost necessarily we have to consider all the main maps that re- 
late to our subject, making special remarks upon such as seem to 
be of importance. 

The earliest known is one on ox-hide, by Cosa, a companion 
of Columbus. It gives Cuba and many names on South America, 
but the Gulf of Mexico, while shown, is conjectural. Peninsular 
Florida is hardly indicated, for there is not a name on the coast, 
and a vignette of St. Christopher covers all the other parts that 
are of interest to us. This is good negative evidence. We had 
not as yet been discovered. 

The Cantino map of 1502 is more in detail, but its left hand mar- 
gin cuts off all but the point of Florida. The Ruysch map of 1508 
shows the definite conception that our Gulf was one on the coast 



76 Alabama Historical Society. 

of China, the Plisicus Sinus. Tebet is on the west coast of the 
Gulf and the land of Magog includes what is now Alabama.^ 

The next is more important. It is called Tabula Terre Nove, 
or the Admiral's map, from probable connection with Columbus^ 
and Winsor tells of the romantic origin of its engraving at St. 
Die in east France. The map may go back to 1507, but the print 
dates from 1513.*^ Jan Stobnicza's map of 15 12 in the Howard 
Memorial Library collection is not very different. 

The Atlantic coast of North America on the Admiral's chart 
shows many names, and South America below Isabella (Cuba), 
Spagnola and the other islands is even better developed. With 
our Gulf it is different. Even the peninsula of Florida is a flat, 
sprawling, club-footed kind of a thing, with two names like "Co- 
mello" and "Clurtar," that belong almost anywhere. The main- 
land has a wavy shore line with what seems to be "B. dolivo" and 
"C. arltar," and then comes the first river, emptying into a bay, 
and having on its east side the name "rio de como" and on its 
west the name "rio de la palmas." Close to the river on the west 
is "lago dellodro," a large open bay. There the names cease, and 
the coast turns south, until due west from Cuba is a wide stream 
with three mouths, its delta projecting far out into the Gulf, and 
between it and Florida are a number of islands. As the large 
river is unnamed, it may be given from report only, but it must 
have been from detailed report, and the natural inference, gener- 
ally drawn, is that it is the Mississippi. If so, the other river and 
the open bay are not connected with the Mississippi and one or the 
other can well be Mobile, the largest deep bay and the second river 
on the north Gulf coast. But where the information came from 
we do not certainly know. It was not until 15 19 that we have any 
account of exploration.'^ 

SPIRITU SANTO — FIRST TYPE. 

This was when a Spanish governor of Jamaica named Garay 
sent out an expedition to find a passage west of Florida, — then 
supposed to be an island. The commander, Pineda, coasted along 
the northern shore of the Gulf from east to west, and explored 

' These three are in Scaife's America, etc. 

° Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 34. The map is given in 
Ibid, vol. ii, p. 112. 
' Fiske's America, p. 178. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hamilton. 'j'j 

until he came to Mexico. He could not well have missed Mobile 
Bay, and next year Garay sent home a map^ embracing his dis- 
coveries, which seems to show it plainly. Mr. Scaife thinks that 
Pineda meant the Panuco by the river which he speaks of as 
draining the populous province of Amichel, and finds the first 
mention of the Spiritu Santo to be by Peter Martyr, who distin- 
guishes it from the Panuco and the River of Palms. But if not in 
Garay 's report it is at least on his map of 1520, on which Amichel 
embraces all the north Gulf coast," and from that time forth on 
many others. Pineda or Garay, therefore, would seem to have 
given the name. 

This chart establishes the first of the four types of the Spiritu 
Santo bay which appear on the early maps and this deep indenta- 
tion of the coast with its eastern offset make up henceforth the 
n.iost prominent landmark on the northern, as R. de Panuco (Tam- 
pico) does of the western Gulf coast. This seems to show it as 
well known and often visited. Cortez suspected that Garay was 
trying to encroach on some of his territory and he had a plat made 
showing the west coast of the Gulf in considerable detail. It also 
gives the Rio del Spiritu Sancto as the first name west of Florida, 
— a two pronged river emptying into the largest bay on the Gulf, 
the bay also with two arms to the east and a small island near the 
mouth. Five other streams empty to the west of our bay before 
the Gulf turns south, one near a "P. Arrecifos" (probably for 
"arrecififes," reefs), being traced to the source, and the two fur- 
thest being named "R. de Arboledas" and "R. la palma." Then 
after what seems to be "Tamacho Pincia," (provincia, ) comes 
the two branched "Rio panuco laoton" in the centre of the west 
coast, near which is marked "Provincia Amichel," with the word 
"Archidona" near islands. Here the coast turns southeast and 
shows in succession the names Sant Pedro, Almeria, and a number 
of bays and rivers which do not concern our present subject. 
Several other maps of this time show Spiritu Santo alone or with 
Panuco, and while both are named as rivers they are almost al- 
ways pictured as bays.^'' 

^Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 218. 

* Ibid, vol. ii, p. 237. 

" Fiske's America, pp. 218-223; Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, 
39, &c. Cortez's map is given in Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 
404. Lok 1582 shows a river, Franciscus Monachus names it, as does 
Ortelius 1570, and Hakluyt-Martyr 1587. — Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 20, 22, 
65, 72. 



/S Alabama Historical Society. 

An important map is a Spanish one said to be of 1527, found at 
Weimar. Ribero's, two years later, was based on it and may be 
considered with it. They do not give a west line to Mundus No- 
vus, but the Atlantic and Gulf coast is remarkably accurate and 
full of names. The former indicates in the interior north of the 
Gulf that it was land which "Panfilo de Narbaes" attempted to 
settle, and in this must therefore be later than 1528, while the 
latter calls it "Tiera de Garay." The sweep of the north coast is 
correct on the 1527 map, distinctly showing the wide expanse we 
call Apalache Bay near the peninsula, the projection at the other 
extremity which we call the Mississippi delta pierced by a river, 
and almost midway in the swell between is a two-headed bay 
with narrow mouth labelled "Mar pequena" (little sea, i. e., salt 
water) and "R. del Spirito Sancto." The map of 1529 shows the 
mouths of two other rivers emptying into this bay further east, 
and by the first is the word "ostial," changed on later charts 
into "ostras." Next east of the bay the coast shows "motas 
(mounds) de S. Salvador," "ancones" (bays), "medauos" (sand- 
banks), and several times the word "recififes" or "arreciffes" 
(reefs), and one village (aldea) is also given. Among the proper 
names occur the R. de Flores and Canaveral to the east and Es- 
condido, Madalena, Las Palmas and Montanas to the southwest 
of Spiritu Santo. There are perhaps a dozen names between 
the Spiritu Santo and the peninsula, and as many between it and 
what seems to be Panuco, on both maps. On that of 1529, by R. 
Escordido is also the name Malabrigo, which will be noticed later. 
These maps of 1527 and 1529 fix the names and details for all 
after them. They are much fuller than that of Maiollo, also of 
1527,^^ which has east of the R. de Spiritu Santo only a bay marked 
Abadia de Garay. 

The next explorer after Pineda was the unfortunate Narvaez, 
in 1528. He as "governor of Florida, Rio de Palmas, and Es- 
piritu Santo,"^^ undertook an expedition to Rio de Palmas, but 
was glad to put to sea for Mexico in rude boats at St. Marks or 
Apalache Bay. He coasted westwardly, according to Biedma 
touched in Chuse Bay for water, and some of his men may have 
died, as tradition asserts, on Dauphine Island. He was himself 

" In Winsor's Cartier to Frontenac, 19. 

^^ Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 242. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hamilton. 79 

lost from his boat's being driven out to sea by the current of a 
large river, it may be the Mississippi, but some of his men under 
Cabeza de Vaca, explored westwardly towards the Rocky Moun- 
tains. He or they must have examined the whole north coast of 
the Gulf, but no account is known of sufficient detail to add to our 
knowledge. 

DeSoto's admiral, Alaldonado, is the next known after Narvaez, 
but his discoveries, except that of the port of Ochus, likewise are 
lost. Those of DeSoto himself in the interior are hardly better 
known. His chroniclers mention many names, but it is difficult 
to identify them. The Gentleman of Elvas is the oldest record 
and generally regarded as the most reliable. He gives the places 
visited by DeSoto in the following order: (i) Canasagua, sub- 
ject to Coga, on a river not named ; (2) Chiaha ; (3) Coste ; (4) 
Tali; (5) Coga; (6) Tallimuchase ; (7) Ytaua in the province of 
Coca, on a river not named ; (8) Ullibahali, on a small river; (9) 
Toasi; (10) Tallise, near a "main river"; (11) Casiste, a great 
town; (12) Piache, on a "great river"; (13) Mavilla, in the pro- 
vince of Tascaluza; (14) Taliepatava, in the province of Pafal- 
laya; (15) Cabusto, near a "great river;"' (16) Chicaga, after 
crossing a river; (17) the province of Saquechuma; (18) Ali- 
mamu; (19) town of Quiz Quiz, on the "Rio Grande;" and then 
after crossing that stream, which is the Mississippi, (20) Aquixo; 
(21) towns of the province of Casqui ; (22) Pacaha; and after 
100 leagues, (23) Quigaute, the greatest town in Florida; and 
then, (24) Coligoa. The others do not concern us.^^ Chiaha is 
near Rome, Ga., Talisee and Toasi near Montgomery, Coqa is the 
sacred Indian City upon the Coosa, Mavilla in Clarke county; 
but his province of Tascaluza, of which Mavilla was a large town, 
does not appear on early maps, unless it is as "Tagil." Biedma 
supposed that the river near Mavilla emptied about 40 leagues 
below into the Bay of Chuse,^* but he is the only one to make that 
supposition. It was in fact the Alabama, for no other stream in 
that section would require two days for the construction of rafts, 
and Biedma places Chiaha on an island in the Spiritu Santo River, 
whose source he also mentions. The Gentleman of Elvas says 
]\Jaldonado waited at Ochuse, six days journey, which DeSoto had 

" French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. ii. 
^* Ibid, p. 102. 



8o Alabama Historical Society. 

appointed as a rendezvous, although Biedma says that was to be 
the Spiritu Santo River.^^ The only time the name Holy Spirit is 
used of what can only be the Mississippi is where Biedma speaks 
of Quiz Quiz as on that river. Elsewhere he and the other chron- 
iclers call it the Rio Grande.^'' So that intentionally or otherwise, 
Biedma, who is less exact than the Gentleman of Elvas, does once 
call the Mississippi the Rio del Spiritu Santo, but Biedma also 
once (or perhaps twice) calls the Alabama or Coosa by the same 
name. No mention seems to be made of a map as used by DeSoto 
in the interior, although his secretary. Ran j el, says the Spiritu 
Santo emptied into a bay according to a chart, and after the sur- 
vivors put to sea Juan D'Anasco drew what he said was a copy 
of a sea chart which he had seen. It may have been that of Cor- 
tez, as he mentions the river of Palms ; but as he does not name 
where he thought he was at the time it does not throw any light 
on our present inquiry. 

Cabot's map of 1544 seems to be modeled on that of Ribero. 
On it appear away to the east the Bay of IMiruelo, and the word 
"culata" is placed by the eastern extension of Spiritu Santo bay. 
Scaife, who is not a Spanish scholar, translated this as "muddy" 
but it seems to mean "gunstock," which would very appropriately 
refer to the arm of Mobile Bay we now call Bon Secours. The 
accuracy of the exploration is shown by its representing the bay 
as long, widening to the south, not flat like Pensacola Bay. It 
fits no other harbor than Mobile. The name is repeated on many 
later charts, sometimes spelled "Oulata." The west cape of the 
main bay now becomes C. de Cruz. The river itself appears for 
the first time, but this may not point to DeSoto, for none of the 
others he crossed are shown, and some river had of course been 
implied all the time. Cabot's map is valuable from the fact that 
it is perhaps the first to show the west coast of Mexico and to in- 
dicate the peninsula of California. This is of importance to us 
as showing that the southern part of North America was already 
well explored.^^ Homem in 1558 is quite similar, and Ramusio, 
1556, also, but has only the bay.^^ 

After DeSoto the next visitor, however, was Bazares, sent by 

^'^ Ibid, pp. 99, loi, 160. 

^Ubid, 105, 167. 

"Narrative and Critical History, vol. iii, p. 22. 

^^Ibid, vol. ii, p. 228, &c. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hamilton. 8i 

Velasco, governor of Mexico, in 1558, to find a suitable place for 
a colony. He explored from ^Mexico north, going eastwardly be- 
yond Pensacola. Tristan de Luna actually settled on our coast in 
consequence. This expedition is interesting and raises questions 
as to Filipina Bay and Ychuse. In Davilla Padilla's account of 
the expedition of the Spaniards in 1560 with the Coca Indians. 
he says they drove the revolted Napoches out of the towns and 
these sought refuge at "Oquechiton" or the big water, which was 
their name for the Spiritu Santo. ^" Shea makes the Napoches to 
be Natchez and the river the Mississippi ; but this could not be, 
for the river is mentioned as having fords, which the Napoches 
used. It was therefore some tributary of the Mobile, perhaps, in 
the Coosa region. 

Mercator in 1569 gives a number of streams, R. del espirito 
santo and Baia de Culata retaining their place in the centre. An 
indicated eastern affluent of the bay is named Guadalquibir. On 
the west side of the first river is "Cossa," and upon the next river 
east (R. de flores) is "Tagil," as provinces, not towns. One 
would expect by this time some trace of DeSoto's or Tristan's ex- 
peditions, but there is none. The Mississippi is not shown by 
any marks that identify it more than before DeSoto's time. In 
fact, as Mr. Winsor observes, it was not yet thought of as import- 
ant, for Mercator runs the Apalachian chain clear across his 
map, thus making all his Gulf rivers comparatively short.-*^ The 
next river west is "rio de gigantes," and then "rio de piscadores," 
with the word "Malabrigo" near its mouth, just as it occurred on 
the 1529 map by side of the"rio escondido." This tends to identify 
the rivers Piscadores and Escondido, which do not appear on the 
same map. That of Ortelius in 1570 is quite similar, showing 
"Coosa" between R. de S. Spirito and R. de Flores next east, with 
"Tagil" at sources of the latter, while the "rio de piscadores" be- 
comes "Malabrige." This probably points to "Malbanchia," the 
native name for the Mississippi in French times. 

SECOND TYPE. 

Thos. Hood in 1592 reverts to a chart form, with only seacoast, 
and makes R. del Spiritu Santo empty into the northwest corner 

^^ Historia Cap. LXVI, p. 215; Essayo Cron. of Cardenas, p. 1560. 
^"Mississippi Basin, p. 13. 



82 Alabama Historical Society. 

of a large but flattened bay, having "Ostras"' and "Marpeqna" be- 
tween that and another river at the northeast corner. There are 
no interior names, except "Florida" to the east. If this is meant 
for Mobile, the river next east of it and the name "Matas de Sal- 
vador" must relate to our Perdido, and R. de las Angeles and R. 
de Governador represent Pensacola. The latter name, it will be 
remembered, was often used by the Spaniards for one of the rivers 
there. Wolfe's Linschoten of 1598 shows a similar Filipina and a 
separate inlet further east called "Nra. Seno de Ochu," but with 
rivers differently named.'^ Hood establishes a second type, there- 
fore, with the bay flattened and showing a number of names. 

THIRD TYPE. 

In 1597 is an interesting map of Wytfliet-- showing more of the 
interior than a similar less detailed one of JudaHs of 1593. In it 
the R. Escondido occupies somewhat the place of the three mouth- 
ed river of the admiral's map, but the most interesting part is the 
region about the B. de Spirit© Sancto. Two rivers empty into 
the Gulf not far apart, the western having a bay. The two systems 
are interlaced, both starting from mountains, between which and 
the rivers is the name Tali while Chiaha is on an island. On the 
west river is Ouigata and higher up Coste ; on the east is 
Ulibahali, and on later maps of this type, connecting the two, is 
the name Tagil, as a province. DeSoto found a Quigaute near 
Quiz Quiz, but west of the Mississippi, and the Ulibahalis on 
what is the Alabama River. So that this map, wdiich established 
a new type apparently founded on DeSoto's explorations and often 
repeated (as by Quadus, 1600-^) is quite a puzzle. It may be a 
rude representation of the Tombigbee and Alabama, called S. 
Spirito and Canaveral respectively, although the latter name is 
entirely distinct on early maps. The presence of "Quigaute" is 
an error, for Tali and Coste (Cosa) are correct, and the Quigaute 
of DeSoto was far west of them. Much similar is the map of F. de 
Wit, which, so far as it differs, as in making the twin rivers rise 
in Capaschi and Calicuas, confuses rather than helps. These are 
really only the provinces through which on the Mercator map of 

" Narrative and Critical History, vol. viii, p. 404. 

''^Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 281; Carticr to Frontenac, 
p. 67. 
^ Car tier to Frontenac, p. 68, Sec also pp. no, 180. 



Bay of Spiritn Santo. — Hamilton. 83 

1569 the rivers Gigantes and Piscadores run, streams shown by 
Wytfliet, too. Somewhat Hke Wytfliet may be mentioned the maps 
of H. Hondio (1630), Eckebrecht, and Nicolaus Visscher. 

Map-making thus went on apace but so far as we know definite 
exploration by the Spaniards ceased after Tristan. The net re- 
sult was that Spanish maps showed certain fixed names, but iden- 
tification with present rivers and harbors is not always clear. It 
is a fascinating subject, for the Gulf has not received full study. 
For our purpose it may be enough to say that the Magdalena seems 
to be the Rio Grande, the Piscadores to be the Mississippi, and the 
Spiritu Santo bay to be the Mobile, while Mobile's twin, the Ten- 
saw, had the romantic name of Guadalquivir. Mobile Point and 
the bleak coast adjoining, almost treeless, was the Motas de Salva- 
dor, from its sand hills. Perdido river may be the Rio de Me- 
dauo (sand bank) and Pensacola waters those of Cannavera 
shown on some copies of Mercator and P. de Maria on the Terrar- 
um Orbis of Henr. Hondio. The modern Chattahoochee was 
also a R. Santo Spiritu from DeSoto's time, causing some con- 
fusion, for several geographers thought it necessary to mingle its 
sources with those of the .western river, and others even placed 
Tascalusa upon it. 

Now came the age of buccaneers, and they needed pilots and 
charts even more than did the Spanish ships whom they had to 
capture or run away from. They were English or French and 
the maps were largely French, English or Dutch. Joliet the 
explorer of the upper Mississippi, has one in 1673 of the coast he 
never saw,^* showing that river emptying into the Gulf, but has 
no bay of any size anywhere. His carte generale of North Ameri- 
ca, however, makes it empty into a large bay, which has also a sep- 
arate arm to the northeast. Raudin not much later makes the 
]\Iississippi (Baude) empty similarly, and distinctly names the 
bay as B. du S. Esprit.-^ 

LaSalle came in 1682 from Canada down to the Gulf itself and 
formed some conception of the coast. He concluded that the Mis- 
sissippi was the Escondido of Spanish maps, and that the Baye du 

^* Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 208; Cartier to Frontenac, 
p. 24s, 246. Marquette's map of the R. Mitchisipi is on p. 248. 
^° Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 235. 



84 Alabama Historical Society. 

St. Esprit was considerably to the northeast.-^ Coming back by 
sea in 1685 to locate a colony, his plan, according to Joutel's Jour- 
nal Historique, -was to find that bay and then explore east and west 
from it to the Mississippi. The two, therefore, according to the 
information of the most eminent discoverer of that day, were dif- 
ferent places. The bay would be known according to their charts 
by having an island between its two points,^' — which may refer 
to Sand Island or Pelican Island at the mouth of Mobile Bay. 
Raudin was LaSalle's engineer and his map calls the Mississippi 
the Buade for Frontenac, but makes it empty, as we have seen, 
into the Baye du St. Esprit. Franqvielin's map"* is sometimes 
said to embrace LaSalle's discoveries, but the copy in Mississippi 
Basin (p. yy) is later' for it shows also Fort Louis on the Mobile, 
founded by Iberville. A remarkable thing about this map is that 
it shows F. Mississipi with three mouths, what appears to be 
something meant for Lake Pontchartrain, and a long branch of 
the Mississippi cutting across east to the Bale du St. Esprit. But 
if this is thus surely not the Mississippi or Mississippi Sound, 
it is as surely not correct for Mobile Bay, for next east is R. Pas- 
couella (Pascagoula) and then the two forked La Mobile Riviere 
itself with Fort Louis on the west bank, emptying into the Gulf, 
with no bay. Geographically Franquelin's B. du St. Esprit would 
therefore be Biloxi ; but this must be a mistake, and is probably, 
as Parkman understands it, really meant for Mobile. Franquelin 
also takes away the "Qlata" (culata) and gives it to a more east- 
ern river. The map of Minet in 1685 is of great value. It is 
given in Thomassy, and shows the coast "as M. de la salle marked 
it on his chart (carte)." East of the mouth of what is clearly 
the Mississippi are in succession R. de Montanas, G. de Sorto, C. 
de Crux, B. du St. Esprit, &c. To the west are R. de la Magde- 
leine, C. Blanco, and R. Escondido, — which La Salle previously, 
it will be recalled, declared was the Mississippi itself.-^ The bay 
is large and far to the east of Fl. Colbert. 

In view of the maledictions of Iberville somewhat later it would 
be painful to rely much on the statements of Hennepin, the Recol- 

■" Letters of La Salle in 2 Margry's Deconvertes, vol. ii, pp. 198, 559; 
Pere Zenobe, &c., in Thomassy, Geologic, &c., pp. 14-18. 

'' French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. i, pp. 95-6. 

■' Carticr to Frontenac, p. 294. 

"' It is given, hut without names, in Narrative and Critical History, vol. 
iv, p. 237, and Cartier to Frontenac, p. 316. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hahiilton. 85 

lect father who seldom recollects anything correctly. He published 
three or more maps, each a little different. That of 1683 shows 
by a dotted line that the R. Colbert ought to empty into a double 
headed open bay.^" One of 1697 shows the Meschasipi with two 
mouths, and to the east the Baye de Spirito Sancto, bending from 
the northeast and receiving four rivers that head south of the 
Hohio.^^ Another of the same year, published at Utreght, gives 
the easternmost and largest of five such rivers as the Chicagua. 
An island is in the mouth of the bay, as in the English map he 
published in 1699,^^ dedicated to William III. of England. On 
this, as on the others, the Bay of Spiritu Santo is about where 
Mobile should be, with Chicagua river emptying into it from the 
northeast, and Port Grande, which may be Pensacola, is further 
east. But as far east again on the maps of 1697 as well as on this 
of 1699 is an unnamed river, without a bay, beyond which near 
the sea is Tascalusa, and high upon the other side, near the 
mountains, is Coga. As Nero and Arnold have had defenders, 
it may be suggested that Hennepin in this was only copying the 
maps above noted which had a second R. Spiritu Sancto over 
there. Similar as to Bay and River of the Holy Ghost is Well's 
map, 1698-9, but "dressed" down to include N. Orleans founded 
twenty years later.^'^ 

LaSalle's real successor was the more fortunate and possibly 
more accurate Iberville, whose pilot was the noted filibuster, 
Laurent de Graff. He became dissatisfied with many of LaSalle's 
identifications. He found only thirteen feet of water on Mobile 
bar, although the bay itself, with a "grosse riviere d'eau trouble," 
was excellent (fort belle) for habitation. He says that as far as 
size goes the Mobile might well be the Mississippi. Iberville's 
views as to the Bay of St. Esprit are quite interesting. In the 
plan he submitted June 18, 1698, before going to the Gulf of 
Mexico he lays much stress upon it, following LaSalle, with whom 
he had conversed. This bay was to be the rendezvous for his ves- 
sels and he purposed entering and examining to see if the Missis- 
sippi did not empty into it, and says he might fortify it. He 
seemed inclined to think that the Mississippi was further west, 

^° Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 249. 
^^ Ibid, pp. 251, 252; Carticr to Frontenac, p. 358. 
^^ In Scaife's America, etc. 
" Cartier to Frontenac, p. 362. 



86 Alabama Historical Society. 

however. When he actually undertook his expedition in the fall 
the St. Esprit seems, at least under that name, to have dropped 
out of his mind almost entirely, probably from information, given 
by Graff and others, that the Mississippi, in which alone he was 
interested, did not empty into a bay. But it is possibly significant 
that he did enter Mobile Bay, explore it thoroughly and discover 
its river, and that when afterwards actually on the Mississippi, 
he was for a while uncertain whether that or the Mobile was the 
river he was seeking. Not only so, but after a temporary settle- 
ment at Biloxi he placed his colony finally on the Mobile. So 
that he did at Mobile what he said in advance he was going to do 
at the Bay of St. Esprit. But when he comes to locate the Bay 
St. Esprit, which he does only incidentally, he puts it at another 
place than Mobile Bay. The text in Margry is not clear, but Mr. 
French has it that in his report of July 3, 1699, as to his first voy- 
age, he says that 13 or 14 leagues west of Mobile he found a land- 
sheltered anchorage, where he left his ships in order to go with 
the small vessels to the neighborhood of Lago de Lodo (Muddy 
Lake), which is the name the Spaniards give to the St. Esprit.^* 
He explored the lower Mississippi and returned by the Amite 
through Maurepas and Pontchartrain, which, he says, "empty into 
the back part (fond) of the bay of Lago de Lodo, eight leagues 
west of where the ships were anchored," that is, of Ship Island. 
A lake connected with it is parallel with the Mississippi and in 
places less than a mile from it.^^ After that he hardly mentions 
St. Esprit one way or the other, calling the Mississippi by the 
Indian name "Malbanchia," just as he uses the Indian names 
Pensacola and Mobile, — or Mavila, as Chasteaumorant, his escort, 
calls it. He had two Spanish maps or charts and identifies the 
Mississippi with the Spanish R. de la Palissado,^" but in general 
discards Spanish and seems to try to find out the native names 
and use them. Mobile, he notes, however, had been so called by 
the Spaniards.^^ Iberville, therefore, at one time thought that 

^* French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, 2nd series, p. 21. So ap- 
parently in letter of June 29, 1699, Margry, vol. iv, p. 118. See also Ibid., 
p. 181. 

"^ Margry, vol. iv, pp. in, 123, 159. The map in Harper's Magazine, 
October, 1894, shows Indian tribes, &c., but does not mention the Spiritu 
Santo. 

^'' Margry, vol. iv, p. 99. 
" Ibid, p. 233. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hamilton. 87 

the Muddy Lake or Baye du St. Esprit was what is now called 
Lake Borgne, into which the Rigolets and Pearl River empty 
from the northeast. 

FIFTH TYPE. 

This may be said to create a fifth type. To this identification 
Coxe in his Carolana, both in description and map, practically 
assents, for he says the Bay of Nassau, which is the west end of 
what we now call Mississippi Sound, is the Spanish Bay of 
Spiritu Santo. Joutel's map is susceptible of either the Mobile 
or the Borgne interpretation, as the coast is too contracted to be 
easily made out.^^ Seutler, after 1705, and De L'Isle later, show 
the Mississippi and Mobile rivers, with B. or R. Saint Esprit 
where Lake Borgne or Bay St. Louis should be. 

There are a large number of other maps, especially French, 
German and Dutch, bearing on the matter, to be found in Winsor, 
Fiske and other authors, and in the valuable collection made by 
Mr. Beer for the Howard Library at New Orleans. I have ex- 
amined all available, dozens in number. It would be impracti- 
cable to discuss them at length. They follow the types already 
given, which may be classified as four or perhaps five in number : 
(i) A round harbor, landlocked, on the north coast of the Gulf, 
called indifferently River or Bay. This is the earliest Spanish 
type, varied later by giving a split or double head, and again by 
showing a number of other streams emptying into it, while an 
ofTset to the east becomes a marked feature. (2) A flattened 
harbor with two main rivers like horns, and one or more narrow 
entrances, the bay being, like the first, within the shore line. 
This is also Spanish, as is (3) the curious intermingling of what 
appears to be the Mobile (or Alabama) and another river on the 
maps of the Wytfliet type, where the western empties into a bay, 
and the eastern has no bay. (4) The early French type has the 
Mississippi under different names, (but probably never that of 
St. Esprit,) emptying into the B. du St. Esprit, either by its main 
stream, as with Joliet, or by a branch, as with LaSalle. (5) On 
a few later maps the Bay is located between the Mississippi and 
Mobile rivers. Then this name for the bay disappears entirely, 
as it earlier had from the river. 

'^ Cartier to Frontenac, p. 318. 



88 Alabama Historical Society. 

One little map in the Howard Library settles the contest in a 
very amicable way, making, like many a jury, a kind of split or 
average verdict. This is "Carte Particuliere du Golphe de Mexi- 
que," of no date. It represents the Mississippi River, with others, 
too, all emptying into the "Bay du Saint Esprit," — which is cer- 
tainly meant for Mobile Bay, for the only city near it is the "Fort 
de Pensacolle," whose location has never been doubted. But this 
is not exactly a jury question. 

Such then are the maps and the reports of explorers. What 
is now the proper answer to the question, where was the Bay of 
Spiritu Santo? 

THE RESULT. 

Of the inlets we named as possible candidates it seems clear that 
none will do with the possible exceptions of Lake Borgne, Mo- 
bile and Pensacola Bays. Lake Borgne seems to have the high 
authority of Iberville, but this is weakened by the fact that he was 
not seeking to identify the Bay. It is of course possible that the 
Spanish pilots had once so called it, but it will be observed that 
even they then called it by the different name of Lago de Lodo and 
not B. de Spiritu Santo. It is clear from Iberville's own accounts 
of his exploration that the matter was of no importance to him, 
and the French proceeded to provide another name yet. This lake 
is probably too shallow to have been singled out as the bay in ques- 
tion, the most prominent harbor on the north of the Gulf. When 
it came to actions, Iberville himself gives his bearings from Mo- 
bile Point as the most important place on the coast. This is just 
what it seems probable the early Spanish explorers did, and it was 
on that account that this bay was at that time the most prominent 
mark on the northern Gulf. On the other hand, it is true the en- 
trance to Pensacola Bay was in Iberville's time the deeper, and 
that harbor more coveted, but that was probably due to a shifting 
of the channel. ^'^ This would in fact account for the bay's becom- 
ing less important and the name's dropping out of notice or be- 
coming confounded with others by Iberville's time. If Pensa- 
cola had ever been the famous Baia de Spiritu Santo of the early 
Spaniards, so marked on all their maps, it would have so remain- 
ed, for Pensacola was always Spanish and always accessible. It 

^^ See on this fact Colonial Mobile, p. 19. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hamilton. 89 

has never been claimed for Pensacola, It would seem that the 
Spiritu Santo Bay, then, was that of Mobile. 

SPIRITU SANTO RIVER. 

But where was the Spiritu Santo River? 

A few maps show the bay of Spiritu Santo distinct from what 
on account of the names near by would seem to be Mobile River. 
This may indicate that the bay and river may not necessarily be 
at the same place. We cannot expect the early explorers to be 
accurate. They generally explored from the sea and perhaps lo- 
cated the bay more accurately than they did the river. But on 
the other hand the testimony of the maps is decidedly that the 
two go together. On all of them the characteristic bay is shown, 
sometimes without a river, but in a majority of cases when a name 
is given it is either that of the river alone or of the bay and river 
together. 

Iberville's words show that to his mind the St. Esprit river 
which he knew was not the Mississippi. August 30, 1699, he 
writes to the Minister of Marine from Rochelle after returning 
from his first voyage that he had received the map sent him of the 
Riviere du St. Esprit, upon which English and French refugees 
were said to have settled, and he proceeds to discuss the matter. 
This river empties, according to Sailly, who had descended it and 
whose map is in question, 80-100 leagues east of the Bay of St. 
Esprit, and consequently, says Iberville, into Apalache River; 
but his own conviction as to the River St. Esprit is that it "can- 
not be other than that of Mobile or Apalachicola," and the mouth 
is more like the latter.*" They were talking at London of estab- 
lishing a colony on this river, "which they say is the Mississippi," 
but Iberville sees "that they say this is only to conceal their 
plan of occupying the river which they name the St. Esprit." 
The Governor of St. Domingo, Ducasse, writing October 29, 
mentions the same plan of the English, but speaks of the bay of 
Spiritu Santo on the coast of New Spain.*^ Iberville thus seems 
to assent to the dissociation of the river and bay. But we recall 

^ Margry. vol. iv. pp. 341-3. A map of De I'lsle 1722, Amst., makes a 
similar identification, as does Herman Moll, 1715- DeSoto's chroniclers, it 
will be remembered, had a second R. del Spiritu Santo about this location 
also. 

" Margry, vol. iv. p. 357. 
7 



90 Alabama Historical Society, 

that the Spanish maps know two such rivers. The western was 
at the same place with the bay and that one was therefore the 
Mobile. Iberville was speaking only of the eastern one. The bay 
was first discovered and first received the name, and the western 
river, less important then, probably received it because it flowed 
into the bay. If the Mississippi was ever called by that name, it 
was only because by mistake it was supposed to be the river which 
flowed into the bay of Spiritu Santo. 

As to the bay, there can be little doubt. The early maps, from 
1520 down through Spanish times, are convincing. The pear- 
shaped bay within the coast line, the long eastern offset at the 
mouth, which we called Mobile Point, are plain. No other har- 
bor corresponds, least of all the Mississippi, with its projecting 
passes. 

CARTOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 

A number of other maps have been examined, but not discussed in the 
foregoing paper. The most important are here briefly summarized. 

When source or location is not otherwise indicated in this paper, or in 
the notes, the map is to be found in the valuable collection of the Howard 
Memorial Library, at New Orleans, La. 

Verrazano, 1529, shows apparently three bays or inlets on north coast, 
but no rivers. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, pp. 18, 26. 

Ayllon's Explorations, 1530, shows long Rio de Flores in about Mobile 
position. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 285. 

One of 1530 shows America as part of Asia, with bay and river, un- 
named. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 432. 

Orontius Fine, 1531, shows three pronged river and bay, middle R. de S. 
Spirit? and P. Arotuco (Arrecifes?). — Narrative and Critical History, 
vol. iii, p. II. 

Globe of Orontius Finaeus, 1531, shows two-headed bay just west of 
Florida peninsula with Rio de Santo Espiritu emptying into west head 
of it. There is west (about the Mississippi's place), a small stream, then 
emptying on west coast two rivers close together, north being Panico from 
Tangut, but emptying in Cathay. — Fiske's Discovery of America, p. 123. 

Early French map, 1533, gives two rivers emptying into bay, west St. 
Esprit. Shows also a river leading through heart of La Mexique. — Narra- 
tive and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 224. 

So another of 1536. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 225. 

Munster, 1540, shows two rivers, without large bays, the east having two 
branches. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 41. 

Vopellio, 1556, a two mouthed river and one east, from mountains. — 
Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 436. 

Zaltieri, 1566, has two rivers and two bays. — Narrative and Critical His- 
tory, vol. iv, p. 93. 

Des Liens, 1566, shows only one river and bay, the bay large, with east 
oflfset. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 79. 

Jno. Dee, 1580, has about centre of north coast usual shaped bay with 
name in Gulf "Rio de S. Spirito Santo." Only other name is on west 
coast, "Rio de Palmas." — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 98. 

Lok 1582, two branched river into Bay. No na.mc. ^Narrative and Criti- 
cal History, vol. iii, p. 40; also Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 44. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hamilton. 9^ 

De Bry, 1596, has bay and forked river without name, but fork is high 
and near what is the St. Lawrence, (no great lakes). East is a shorter 
stream, but no real bay. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 99. 

Nancy Globe has miscellaneous unnamed rivers. — Narrative and Critical 
History, vol. ii, p. 433. 

Bodleian, i6th century, shows two rivers, (west being R. del Spirit. 
Santo,) emptying into a bay. 

Hennepin (Utreght) shows R. de Magdelaine as our Rio Grande. 

F. de Wit, like Wytfliet, has mixed the sources of twin rivers in mts. 
marked Capaschi and Calicuas. On coast from peninsula west are P. Phico, 
Apalacho, Tascalisa, C. de Hondo, then the twin river systems, C. de Cruz, 
C. de Sierra, R. de Montanas, R. de Lasso (in Gulf), R. de Oro, R. Bravo, 
Costa Deserta, and then after coast turns south the two armed R. Escon- 
dido. In interior W. of W. double river is Cossa, like Tagil in type in- 
dicating a province. 

Am. sive India Nova, par Michaelem Mercatorem Duysburgensem, 
(no date), colored, in corner has (from East) El Cannavera, then Rio de 
Madauo, matas de Salvador, Rio del espirito Santo emptying into Baia 
de Culata, on wh. is Guadalquibir, C. de Zierto, Rio de gigantes, Costa de 
Piscadores Rio de Piscadores Malabrigo, C. Brava, Rio Palmar, Plaias, 
Arboledas, Rio de Palmas, &c. 

Antillen Inseln G. P. Busch sc. Berolini, no date. Has only F des 
Bilocchy and F low on Mississip ou la Grande rivers, Mobile on unnamed 
river with large bay. "S. Spiritus" seems to name an inlet E. of mouth of 
Miss. 

Guil De risle, 1722, Amst., Mexique and La Floride. Marks an eastern 
river, as "Apalachicola ou Hunanachi et R du St. Esprit." 

Quadus, 1600, much like DeWit. No names. — Narrative and Critical 
History, vol. iv, p. loi. 

Small Orbis Terrarum of Nicolaus loa Visschero has in one place a date, 
1616, but lacks river and bay names. Has mixed river system and names 
like DeWit. 

Small Terrarum Orbis of Henr. Hondio, 1630, is much the same as De- 
Wit except that it omits bay name, calls east and west rivers R. Flores 
and R. de Cruz respectively, and runs the upper rivers further east through 
a lake to Va. The next place east is a bay, P. de Maria, west after Cruz 
are Brava Costa, R. Secondido, without a stream, and large one southwest 
without name. It omits the great lakes but has Huttons (Hudson's) Bay. 

Eckebrecht, 1630, less in detail than last, but much like it in arrangement, 
names, &c. 

This and the preceding have a large river, just south of curve of Gulf 
coast, called Escondido on this last. 

Nicolaus Visscher's Insulae Americanae, &c., with Bahia and three inter- 
laced rivers, much as DeWit with long two branched R. de Canaveral from 
Coza also emptying into the Bahia, and a smaller Canaveral next east with 
islands at its mouth into the gulf, while Tascalasa and Achusi are towns 
on it. So Jno. Ogilby in his book on America, 1671. The name of the map 
is held by Cupids, and the scale faced by tritons and seductive nymphs. 

Jesuit map, 1672-3, has Mitchisipi mouth as the first Joliet map. — Nar- 
rative and Critical History, vol. iv. p, 221. 

Raudin (after 1637) has R. Buade — clearly Mississippi — with two others 
unnamed emptying into "E. du. S. Esprit" of usual shape. — Narrative and 
Critical History, vol. iv, p. 235. 

Joliet's map, 1673-4, shows Mississippi emptying with a slight increase 
of width into Le Sein de Mexique. He has "Europeans" on a small stream 
to east. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iii, p. 208. Another Joliet 
map has the Riv. de Mississipi emptying into a bay with another head, 
&c. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 218. 



C}2 Alabama Historical Society. 

Roggeveen, 1675, shows Mar Pequeno, &c., as on early Spanish maps, 
with name Rio del Spiritu Santo, but no name for bay. — Mississippi Basin, 
P- 39- 

N. Sanson (1679?) Amsterdam, North and South America. Shows 
four large rivers from mountains south of great lakes emptying into a bay 
on north Gulf. No names. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. i, p. 18. 

Map of Louisiane (prefixed to vol. iii of Margry), showing La Salle's 
discoveries, 1679-82, gives (i) "R. de So Spiritu" emptying into B. du S. 
Esprit, as on east does R. de Canasseral, (2) Kosa on R. "So Su" and 
much higher up is Maouila, (3) that river and Fl Louis ou Ch....goa 
(same as the (I)hio), &c., run parallel and interlace. (4) at east it seems 
to connect with another Spiritu Santo running into Gulf at Florida's corner. 

Franquelin (1681?) has branch of Mississippi emptying into Bale du S. 
Esprit, whose west cape is Cape Desert. Next east is R. Pascouella and 
then forked La Mobille Riviere emptying with no bay worthy of the 
name. — Mississippi Basin, p. 77. 

Franquelin, 1684, has Mississippi mouth without widening and far to 
east a wide bay with narrow mouth; five small rivers empty into it. — • 
Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 228. 

L'Amerique Septentrionale. . . .par P. Coronelli, Paris, 1689, shows R. 
Mississipi ou Colbert, &c., with two months emptying far to southwest, 
near R. Bravo and about 100 lieues east is B. de lo Espiritu Santo with 
mouths of s rivers, C. Hondo its east point and C. S. Crux rather far to 
west of bay. Interior at this point not shown. There is a R. del Spit. 
Santo where Florida turns south. 

G. Broedelet (Utreght), no date, has Fleuve Meschasipi complete to Gulf 
and 60 lieues east "Baye de Spirito Santo." East on a river is Tascaluca, 
R. de Magdelaine is our R. Grande. 

Another, slightly changed, has east river a little longer and named "Chi- 
cagua R. " Both have "Tascaluga" much further east near a river rising 
in "Mons Apalache," and the second has "Coga," both as towns, high up on 
west of that stream, 1700. 

Campanius, 1702, has the bay and rivers without names, and no ]Missis- 
sippi. — Narrative and Critical History, vol. iv, p. 394. 

Novus Orbis of Matth. Seutler has among its dates of discovery, 1705, 
has Mississippi in full, with two mouths, and "F" near, then east a bay and 
river with B. S. Spiritus, then east "F. Bilocchy," and then east Cosa. Tas- 
caluca, Caquetta and Mobila as towns on a two branched river. 

L'Amerique Septentrionale par G. del L'Isle chez Pierre Schenk, (Amst.) 
the same as last with names in French, as B. du St. Esprit, (at Lake 
Borgne's location,) Chagueta, Maouila ou Mobila, &c. 1708. 

Herman Moll, 1715, has none of the old names, but shows R. del Spirito 
Sancto as named also Chatahuch R. Into P. & H. of I. Dauphine, on 
which is Fort Mobill, empties from north west Mobile R.. into which from 
west flows Chacta R. ; from northeast empties R. Conchaques. into which 
flow Pedegoe R. and Cabo Creek and Cusa R. ; high upon the last being 
the Conchaques. Where Caba and Cusa join, at the Talapoosie town 100 
men, a road crosses from Charles Town to Yasu on R. St. Louis, striking 
the other streams higher up. 

America Septentrionalis studio.. .de L'Isle. . .sumptibus C. Weigelii 
Heredum Norimberga, with Indian vignettes, has everything complete, 
even Cal. a peninsula, and Mississipi R., and near the mouth "R. du St. 
Esprit" almost opposite the mouth of Mississippi. It has the Maouila or 
Mobila for town in fork of second river east, northwest of which is town 
Chaqueta, and northeast Tascaluca. Pensacola shown on coast. 

Coxe's map, 1722, shows coast with R. Pascagoula, R. Coza. (Mob'le nnd 
F. Louis on it,) Pensacola, &c. R. Spirito Santo is Apalache. — Mississippi 
Basin, pp. 44-45. 



Bay of Spiritu Santo. — Hamilton. 93 

La Potherie, 1772, shows Mississippi emptying straight, and to east is 
large Baye de Spiritu Sancto, with small streams. R. de Spiritu Santo 
empties from north near northwest corner of peninsula of Florida. — Missis- 
sippi Basin, p. 79. 

Bolton's improvement on D'Anville, 1752, for Postlewayt's Die. of Trade 
and Com. has no S. S., but shows "C. Lodo or Mud C." at mouth of Mis- 
sissippi. 

Dumont, 175.3, has Eiloxi Bay like old Spiritu Santo and Mobile Bay 
hardly a widening of the R. de la ^lobille. (Tombigbee.) — Narrative and 
Critical History, vol. v, p. 82. 

DuPratz, 1758, shows L. S. Louis with island at mouth much like Spiritu 
Santo with Manchac emptying into it, &c. — Narrative and Critical History, 
vol. V, p. 66. 

Large map, 1777, "according to Gov. Pownall's memorandum" has "Cape 
Lodo or Mud Cape" at mouth of the Mississippi. (Ft. Croften on east side 
Mobile Bay.) 

West Indien By Theunis lacobsz (Amsterdam,) no date, is a chart of 
coast. Mississippi does not appear, but Mar. pequeno, with R. dt Spto 
Santo at northwest corner does. ]Many names east and west, none in in- 
terior. 

Johannem lansonium much the same, Quiata (perhaps by accident) 
a little east, by a separate small bay. 

America Septentrionalis Novissima, (Amstelodami,) by P. Schenk, ex 
Amsteloed, has five large rivers emptying into the large B. de Spir. Santo, 
the only one on north coast. The westernmost (except another smaller) 
is R. de Spiritu Santo. The easternmost comes from Coza, &c. It some- 
what resembles DeWit in the mingling of the three central streams. 
Chisca and Tascaluca are east of the system, the last near the coast. 
Quiguta is in the middle of the system, Ulibahali considerably northeast 
above it on one branch, Tali and Coste on one to the northwest. There 
are no other recognizable DeSoto names. 

"Teatre de la Guerre en Amerique Coveus and Mortier Amst." has Mis- 
isipi R., Ochio R., &c., and Bay del Spirito Sancto with three small un- 
nained streams into it, and the words Ostras, Marpequeue, and Qualata. 
On west "Cap de Far ou Cruz" and above it on west side of bay an island. 
To east are R. del Canaveral, Plaia on coast, R. Flores, Cap Escondido, 
Nieves R. 

Totius Americae Nova Exhibitio (small) Port Grande, Sta. Maria del 
Buz, and then peninsula. West is only small R. Snelo, Isle Marascagen- 
ses Embouchures du Misisipi Riv., 1683. Bay de St. Louis at mouth of 
Riv. aux Vaches and north on Brave Riv. bounding La. on south. Fine 
engraving in corner of Indians and French trading, and naval battle. In 
Gulf lieues — Brasses d'eau ; has no date but has many names, shows Spanish 
possessions (including Florida from Mississippi to Atlantic) in yellow, 
Virginia, N. Anglia, Canada, California as islands, &c. Mischasipi Fl. is 
there in full length, with Hohio branch, and to the east B. de Spiritu Sancto 
with Tascalusa on an east branch and Achusi south of that on the coast, 
both as towns. Button's Bay, Ft. Crevecoeur, great lakes, &c., shown. 




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